NIGHT PRAYER /  by Joe Castorino

O Mystical Rose,

Be with me; stay with me;

Let every beat of my heart tonight

Be an act of love for you!

O Jesus, The Divine Mercy,

Be with me; stay with me;

Let every beat of my heart tonight

Be an act of love for you!

Amen.

MARIAN PRAYER OF OFFERING FOR A PLENARY OR PARTIAL INDULGENCE /  by Joe Castorino

O Lord of Love,

Through your holy grace,

I have wholehearted contrition,

And am free from all affection for sin,

And so, with a sincere heart,

I offer you this Our Father

and also this Hail Mary,

For the Holy Father’s intentions…

And along with these prayers,

Please accept my recent confession,

And this morning’s indulgenced work, 

And reception of Holy Communion.

In short, I humbly request that 

Through the sweet hands of

Our Lady of Love,

You accept the little gift of

Today’s indulgence,

Offered for the benefit of _____,

Or for whomever the merciful

Mystical Rose most wishes,

In accordance with your holy will.


Amen.

LITTLE PRAYER TO OUR GUARDIAN ANGELs /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by St. Basil the Great and St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Dearest

Guardian Angels,

Be with us;

Stay with us.

Through God’s

Bountiful love,

Please protect us!

Please guard us!

Please guide us!

Please teach us!

Save us from

The dark night,

And lead us into

The Holy Light.

Jesus, I trust in You!

Amen.

SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Pompeo Batoni’s masterpiece



The lecherous elders saw her,

with eyes wanton and wicked

they saw the lovely Susannah

as she innocently bathed in the

warm water of the silent garden,

but when she rejected the lurid

scheme of these unjust judges,

their vicious vile hearts burned

with lust and anger, and so

they perniciously plotted to

melt down her golden reputation

in the fiery furnace of calumny;

but still, she trusted,

Susannah trusted in God --

then, the Spirit of the Lord rushed

upon a youth named Daniel

who, though very humble,

spoke with the authoritative

passion of the prophets of old,

and his wondrous wisdom

amazed the people who listened --

and, lo, in the twinkle of an eye,

Justice struck down the elders

like a holy hammer from Heaven.

DAVID AND GOLIATH /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Caravaggio’s masterpiece



David, youthful and ruddy, 

God’s brave little warrior,

Bends over to see the stupefied 

Expression on Goliath’s face;

The beheaded giant attempts to

Utter one last word to the victor,

But the smooth stone piercing

His bloody brain prevents him;

The future king is as calm and

Collected as a sage prophet,

Truly he is God’s holy champion,

The faithful and fearless one.

THE ISRAELITES DRINKING THE MIRACULOUS WATER /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Jacopo Bassano’s masterpiece

Just a moment ago,

before I struck the rock,

the people used their mouths

to stone me with sarcasm,

to run me through with ridicule,

to crucify me with cruelty --

but if they would see You here,

the Holy One, the great I AM,

they would never do this to You;

yet now, with those same mouths,

they thirstily drink the water,

refreshing their parched throats,

strengthening their tired bodies --

but what they really need,

what they really and truly need,

to refresh and purify their souls,

is Your gracious gift of Living Water,

an endless ocean of Divine Mercy.

THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE FRUIT /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece

As Jesus sits at table,

He lovingly shares with us

Clusters of nine grapes,

One for each fruit of the Spirit;

We eat them and they are

Sweeter than moscato,

And they lovingly burst forth in

Wonderful fireworks of flavor;

But then we see others in need

At the far end of the table,

And so, in Love, we share

Our delightful fruit with them too,

So that Love is all in all,

And the more we share this

Most excellent fruit with others,

The more Jesus shares it with us.

MOSES SAVED FROM THE WATERS /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto’s masterpiece



A lonely little baby in a basket

floats freely in the current of

the Nile River, his brown eyes

wandering to and fro, innocently

wondering where his mother is;

the Spirit delicately leads the

young one towards his new home,

and in a short time the babe feels

his journey come to a gentle halt;

when the basket opens, he looks up

and sees a pretty face, but unlike

any that he has seen before, painted,

but with a light, elegant touch;

then the Egyptian woman’s

eyes open wide in wonder,

and her beautiful lips curve

into a warm, sweet smile,

and for the first time in

her life, she is in love.

THE CONVERSION OF MARY MAGDALENE /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Paolo Veronese’s masterpiece

Our Lord looks at Mary

With sweetness and gentleness,

And she looks back at him,

Incredulous, that He could

Forgive and pardon

Her many many grave sins;

She gazes into the eyes of Love,

Her heart pierced by the lance of

Sincere heartfelt contrition, and

As He breaks the chains of her sin,

She experiences the Good,

She experiences the True,

She experiences the Beautiful —

And, lo, she is a new creation!

OUR LADY'S LITTLE LANTERN /  by Joe Castorino

O Mystical Rose,

Surrounded by the

Dazzling and brilliant Light,

You open your little lantern

And fill it to the brim

With the Light of Love,

Then you humbly and gently

Shine it upon the whole world,

Transfiguring it,

With His glorious goodness,

With His transparent truth,

With His benevolent beauty!

JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BROTHERS /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Antonio Castillo Saavedra’s masterpiece

Stripped of his ornamental tunic

By his jealous, impulsive brothers,

Joseph sits cramped inside a dry well,

As if inside a cavernous dungeon,

Bewildered, like a lost lonely sheep; 

Then, he’s startled by a falling rope --

He instinctively grips it and

Suddenly, he’s jerked upwards,

His eyes observing the misty clouds

That seem to be swirling in confusion

Above him in the cold dark sky;

After being yanked out of the well

And thrown roughly to the ground

By one of his very own brothers,

He wearily looks up at an 

Astonished Midianite merchant,

Who carefully looks him over

With a shrewd business-like eye

Before buying him, on the spot, 

For a bargain of twenty shekels;

As Joseph slowly walks alongside

This cheerful good-natured trader,

He wonders what God’s plans will be

For him in the distant land of Egypt.

THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Paolo Veronese’s masterpiece

Abraham simply can’t wait any longer:

His heavy heart thunderously thumps

Deep down inside his big broad chest, 

And his body trembles with terror.

He hesitates as if he is hopelessly lost,

As if wandering in a wasteland of worry,

Yet when he closes his weary eyes,

He finds God’s gift of faith in his heart.

Little Isaac gazes upward towards the sky,

Wondering why the clouds are so grey,

He completely trusts his good father,

And knows not his own impending doom.  

Abraham’s hopeful hand grips the knife,

Then very slowly, and ever so silently, 

He raises its bloodless blade in the air,

Preparing for the swift stroke of death. 

But an angel in white stops him and 

Abraham’s body crumbles to the ground,

Like fallen fragments of unleavened bread,

And Divine Mercy warmly smiles upon him.

THE TOWER OF BABEL /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Frans Francken II’s masterpiece



The people were far more

advanced in technology than

their predecessors, and they

built a tower soaring to the skies;

their minds were filled with

grand new dreams of progress,

and each of them envisioned

a great new world in which

their creative ingenuity

would supply all of their needs --

they no longer needed God.

The Spirit slowly circled overhead,

saddened that He had been

forgotten by the people,

so He sighed deeply, wishing

His children to know how much

they needed Him, wishing

them to know how greatly and

how passionately He loved them;

so He withdrew and gave them

what they wanted: independence --

and then they babbled like idiots.

Why are dust and ashes proud?

Why is it that we accomplish

great things, and then we

forget the One who gave us

the gifts in the first place?

Even stubborn donkeys

understand that although

they wear a very beautiful

diamond-studded saddle,

it is absolutely nothing that

they earned or deserved.

THE DELUGE /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Francis Danby’s masterpiece

Far, far away,

on the stormy grey sea,

Noah’s grand wooden ark

slowly and gently bobs

up and down, up and down,

in the waves of Divine Mercy,

but as I turn to the right,

my heart stops when I see

dark cascades of rain all around,

pouring madly out of the turbulent

black clouds like cool liquid lava.

I stand atop what was once a tall

mountain, surrounded by the

devastating deluge and flood,

and clusters of screeching

men and women encircle me,

clinging like crabs to the wet rocks,

but many have already fallen

into the swirling sea below and

clutch desperately to the feeble

branches of submerged oak trees,

hoping the tempest will cease.

Only hours later, I’m the only

survivor, but I won’t last much

longer since the water is up to my

waist, and it is more and more

difficult to maintain my hold of the

wet boulder I’ve been sitting on all

day, and as I hopelessly look

around, I only see grey water and

black skies, and the relentless rain

that brings with it God’s justice.

PRAYER OF SAINT BONAVENTURE /  by Joe Castorino

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus,

My inmost soul with the most joyous

And healthful wound of your love,

And with true, calm, and most holy apostolic charity,

That my soul may ever languish and melt

With entire love and longing for you,

May yearn for you and for your courts,

May long to be dissolved and to be with you.

Grant that my soul may hunger after you,

The Bread of Angels,

The refreshment of holy souls,

Our daily and super substantial bread,

Having all sweetness and savor

And every delightful taste.

May my heart ever hunger after

And feed upon you,

Whom the angels desire to look upon,

And may my inmost soul be filled

With the sweetness of your savor;

May it ever thirst for you,

The fountain of life,

The fountain of wisdom and knowledge,

The fountain of eternal light,

The torrent of pleasure,

The fullness of the house of God;

May it ever surround you,

Seek you, find you,

Run to you, come up to you,

Meditate on you, speak of you,

And do all for the praise and glory of your name,

With humility and discretion,

With love and delight,

With ease and affection,

With perseverance to the end;

And be you alone ever my hope,

My entire confidence, my riches,

My delight, my pleasure, my joy,

My rest and tranquility, my peace,

My sweetness, my food, my refreshment,

My refuge, my help, my wisdom,

My portion, my possession, my treasure;

May my mind be ever fixed on you,

And may my heart be ever firm

And rooted in you immovably.

Amen.

THE ANIMALS ENTERING NOAH'S ARK /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Jacopo Bassano’s masterpiece

Old Noah and his family,

shunned and mocked by

their know-it-all neighbors,

diligently gather the animals

into the cozy confines of

the grand wooden ark;

when all are on board and

they lock up the vessel,

from very high in the sky

a peaceful dove looks down and

the ark looks like a giant oyster,

protecting its treasure from

the swiftly advancing storm.

ADAM AND EVE /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Tiziano Vecellio’s masterpiece



As the serpent seductively

smiles at Adam and Eve,

their teeth tear the flesh

of the juicy fruit -- and, oh!

the intense sweetness

and overwhelming delight!

but very suddenly they

shudder and convulse

in their deadly disobedience,

as their souls are poisoned

by the black sugar of sin.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN /  by Joe Castorino

Inspired by Thomas Cole’s masterpiece

Adam and Eve gratefully gaze

in awe and wonder at the

beauty of God’s holy creation;

beyond the sublime peace

of the verdant meadow and

the fresh tropical fruit trees

that lovingly embrace it,

a whispering waterfall sparkles

like aquamarine crystal in

the warm welcoming sun

and gracefully pours into

the pristine lake below;

rising majestically behind it

is a towering mountain of rock

that stands in stately grandeur,

piercing the serene blue sky,

joyfully pointing to the realm

of the Heavenly Homeland.

ST. JOHN PAUL II'S PRAYER OF DIVINE MERCY /  by Joe Castorino

God, merciful Father,

in Your Son, Jesus Christ,

You have revealed Your love

and poured it out upon us

in the Holy Spirit,

the Comforter.

We entrust to You today 

the destiny of the whole world

and of every man and woman.

Bend down to us sinners, 

heal our weakness,

conquer all evil,

and grant that all peoples of the earth

may experience Your mercy.

In You, the Triune God, 

may they ever find the source of hope.

Eternal Father,

for the sake of the sorrowful Passion

and Resurrection of Your Son,

have mercy on us,

and upon the whole world!

Amen.